After HC prod, SEC meets state officials, hints at cop deployment

Kolkata: Directed by Calcutta High Court, the state election commissioner held a meeting with the chief secretary and DGP on Thursday evening and hinted they were in favour of deploying state police for the Bidhannagar civic elections on Saturday.
An HC division bench of Chief Justice Prakash Shrivastava and Justice Rajarshi Bharadwaj on Thursday had directed state election commissioner Saurabh Das to hold a meeting with chief secretary, home secretary, DGP and inspector general of police by evening and reassess the ground reality and decide on the necessity of deployment of paramilitary forces.
The court had said the police commissioner would be “personally liable” for a violence-free election in case he said paramilitary forces were not necessary for the elections. Petitioners Mousumi Roy and Pratap Banerjee had moved the HC, seeking the court’s direction for deploying paramilitary forces.
SEC officials said they would tell the HC about their security plan on Friday. There will be 2,300 cops on duty. Patrolling started soon after Thursday evening in the four civic bodies, where the elections will be held on Saturday and special checks are being conducted on liquor shops and hotels. Sale of liquor has been barred from 5pm on Thursday till the end of the election.
About vote counting on a single day, the HC asked applicants to approach the SEC.